I agree the music, it’s use and the musical numbers were all good; and, I didn’t mind the volume …pardon?
1 Like
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
As I have Limitless I decided to go and watch this despite the appalling reviews …and?
Well, it wasn’t that bad in all honesty. Never having been into Marvel Comics, with the exception of some Dr Strange, I am not upset by the trammeling of canon; and I suspect there was much of that here. I am more sensitive to Gender politics, and I feel there was some here, but I liked that this was also used by ‘The Big Bad’ to try to manipulate Jean.
On the action side there were a couple of nice set pieces. I do think they would have been better dealing with this along the lines of The Avengers, that is give each character, or couple of characters, a movie to allow us to get to know them and CARE. This would allow this sort of ensemble piece to carry far more weight, and get away with the short shrift they must inevitably give to most the non-essential ‘main’ characters.
Overall I preferred this to Last Stand.
Men in Black International
Enjoyable. As good as the earlier installments? Personally I enjoyed 1 & 3 most, but I would probably rank this with MIB2. For ONCE I wish they could avoid the moans about the words ‘Man’ & ‘Men’, but that may be age related.
M
Homes & Watson
Based on reviews, I expected this to be really bad, and it was.
1 Like
Godzilla: King of the monsters
Enjoyable third entry in the rebooted Godzilla universe. The formula is clear by now: monsters duke it out over turf, while sympathetically written humans go about their business right under the monsters’ noses.
Graphics remain awesome, and plot is serviceable (for a live action cartoon).
Nice to know your expectations weren’t subverted 
Spiderman: Far From Home
Very good, enjoyable and unspoiled by subliminal messaging.
Good acting, action and pacing. The story continues from Endgame, and addresses some of the loose ends.
Stay for both the end credit sequences. Nice to see …no, no spoilers.
1 Like
Hostiles | 
1 Like
King of Thieves | 
1 Like
A Private War |
Toy Story 4
A good film, but the weakest in the franchise.
I think this is imposed by our culturally churning time. Children’s stories are built on archetype & stereotype; something that is frowned upon today, and yet much of the fun comes from subverting expectations.
The first three films had strong antagonists, not so much here. The antagonist is in pain and needs to be understood and sympathised with. As a result more time spent in exposition. There is less humour and more pathos, and I felt the emotion was less organic and perhaps a tad engineered.
To date the films have centered around Woody and Buzz, not so this one, Bo-Peep steps forward. This I thought was done well, although it meant that Buzz became a background character; but then I think his story has had its arc and could happily have seen even less of him.
This is a film I will add to my collection, but I suspect it will not be aired quiet as regularly.
M
1 Like
IT 2
A part 2 that feels as though it repeats part 1, but not quiet as well.
IT2 is tense with jump scares, however it fails to build in the same way as the first film, so that it maintains the same tone throughout; by the time the film reached its climax I was strangely unengaged.
The film does have some well done set pieces and cinematic flourishes, but I just wasn’t captured in the same way as IT1. Having read the book a number of times I have not felt as though the second half of the book was a simple repeat with older characters, somehow the film failed to manage this for me.
This is a film that I find it hard to enthuse about or recommend.
M
Disney’s live action Aladdin. Hardly high brow.
I was a little reluctant to watch this (as Robin Williams really annoyed me in the cartoon version decades ago), though I know many enjoyed his genie.
Rented on AppleTV and watched with the family - all in all it’s simply good fun, albeit a bit cheesy in places, has old and new songs and looks glorious. I thought Will Smith did a fantsatic job, and great to see the strong female lead.
It’s hard to find films the whole family can enjoy these days, and this is the best Disney production I’ve seen in ages.
Enjoyed it so much I’ve just ordered the 3D BluRay.
As an aside, why, oh why can’t they do a 3D BluRay/4k Blu Ray/standard Blu Ray package with all formats - I’d quite like the 4k and 3d versions but would have to buy separately. The only recent one I’ve seen is Alita Battle Angel.
2 Likes
Not long back from seeing The Joker.
My one word review - Superb!
5 Likes
Le Mans '66 - Ford versus Ferrari
This is the very first car racing movie that is actually grippingly exciting and entertaining to watch. So says a complete petrol head.
Matt Damon and Christian Bale are both on sparkling form, with a plot that follows Carol Shelby (Damon) and Ken Miles (Bale) develop and race the Ford GT40 that eventually beats Ferrari at its own game. The plot never slows during its 150 minute run time.
Fabulous!
Best regards, BF
8 Likes
Yep, on my list too.
We saw Le Mans ‘66 today. It was a survival course to get in to the cinema because of hundreds of children on their way to Frozen 2, having selfies taken with various random Disney characters in the foyer.
The film was excellent. Quite gripping and I didn’t feel it went on too long, which is often my reaction to films that stray past 2 hours. In the car on the way home, my wife said she enjoyed it too.
Best
David
1 Like
I saw Le Mans '66 this afternoon. Great fun, especially if you are a bit of a petrol head. Matt Damon is, well, Matt Damon. Christian Bale was great. I loved his Midlands accent, though I suspect many of the American audience will find it quite perplexing (“is that English?” ). Highly recommended.
1 Like
Rise of Skywalker
More of an adventure film than The Last Jedi, this had me grinning from ear to ear. Wonderfully done.
2 Likes